Yeah it gets stocked and can be good, but from my experiences it wouldn't be worth the drive all the way from Butler since you have Neshannock Cool Spring, and Slippery Rock that are closer. I rarely fish it exclusively for trout since Neshannock, Oil, etc. are much better but if I only have a little time to fish early in the season I'll hit the Shenango since it's closer. There are some VERY good caddis hatches on that river, but I rarely see any fish rise. One day in June I easily caught five trout in a hole where I would normally have to work hard to get only a couple in the spring. I don't think I have it fully figured out yet, except for directly below the dam but anyone can cast small streamers to freshly stocked trout there.

Once the trout fishing slows down on the other streams I'm on the Shenango all the time for WW species. Smallies, white bass, hybrids, crappie, big gills, walleye, carp(sight fishing), pike, pretty much everything is in that river. One of my favorite fisheries, just not for trout.

Ya I just see photos and it looks great it just gets stocked a month before those streams you named so ill prob head there to pop my cherry for the year. I might be able to help ya out if we meet up maybe figure it out together cause I think I could find something they would eat after a bit of time in the water.

There's a few good spots farther down from the dam, but it doesn't usually get fished by me due to better water around. It does get a pretty good caddis hatch, but so do other streams with much better opportunities IMO.

Now later on in the season you can catch a few different species of bass, walleye, carp, panfish etc there and then it does become a decent option.